Decluttering

This page contains links to all posts that relate specifically to decluttering.

Why Declutter?

Clutter affects our health, our productivity and our relationships. Too much clutter prevents us focusing, is related to overeating, less exercise, more stress and worse family relationships and behaviour.

Life is always changing, and most of us will go through periods of highs and lows, over and over again. This cycle is the same for everyone and we all have a past. We’re all imperfect humans who are trying to do the best we can. Sometimes, if a person tries to hide that imperfection, or if they can’t let go of the past, or if they try to cover up the past, clutter can be the result.

Decluttering is one of those things that most of us know we should do, but many of us never get around to. Aside from a brief two-day purge when it really gets too much, we live our lives surrounded by piles of things we don’t need and don’t use. Finding the motivation to declutter is the key to making sustainable changes. There are two parts to acquiring this motivation and maintaining it, so let’s look at each of them in turn.

They sit there for years and years, neither used nor given away, just gathering more and more dust.

I am pretty good at decluttering, but for while I was really stuck with a handful of items that psychologically I just didn’t seem to be able to part with. Even though I had barely, or never, used those items since I had received them.

Decluttering should be a simple exercise. You look at a bunch of items, decide what you want to get rid of and keep the rest. However, if it was this easy, there wouldn’t be so many of us living in overly cluttered homes that we don’t seem to be able to manage. So what exactly is the reason that we can’t declutter?

Here are ten reasons why we just can’t get rid of our stuff – and what to do about them.

This is my ultimate, all-in-one guide on how to declutter your home. I draw on several of my other blogs posts here (all linked in the text), and also on the process that I teach in my Declutter course. Take it step-by-step and declutter your way out of chaos to create a home that is easy to run and simple to clean!